Letters to the Editor

by the Readers

Wall Squall

In ["The Great Divide," Heather Kalmbach, Slant, Jan. 22, 2004] there are major errors of omission as well as commission. Let's start with the reason for the barrier in the first place: the unprecedented wave of terror that has been ongoing since September 2000. Since Yasser Arafat walked away from an offer of 98 percent of the West Bank and Gaza as well as control of East Jerusalem, more than 900 Israeli civilians have been murdered. The first responsibility of any government is to protect the lives of its citizens.

The wall is 97 percent chain-link fence and can be removed if and when a responsible Palestinian leadership emerges that is willing to confront the terrorists. As an aside, I would be curious to know Ms. Kalmbach's definition of a terrorist. There are no terrorist infiltrations from Gaza because a security fence already exists there. The fence does not annex territory nor attempt to change the status of the territory.

Ms. Kalmbach also refers to a U.N. resolution. The U.N. has consistently attacked Israel. It is a forum for countries such as Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iran and other repressive regimes to condemn Israel while they show total disregard for the needs and rights of their own citizens. Slaughter has taken place in Rwanda and ethnic cleansing in Yugoslavia with barely a murmur from these anti-Semitic, anti-American dictatorships. The U.N. is obsessed with Israel while turning a blind eye to the Israelis murdered by terrorists who are funded, trained and supported by member nations.

The true "Great Divide" is between a culture that celebrates life and one that celebrates murder.

Howard Bernstein
Via E-mail

Bring

’

Em In

The thinking that led to Mayor Street's presumed "decision" not to fund the Welcoming Center for New Pennsylvanians is typical of the way the city operates ["Immigrants on Their Own," Helen i-lin Hwang, Jan. 22, 2004]. Cities have always been fluid places and they will only become more so in the future. Part of what makes this country great is our immigrants -- whether they are from Poland or Haiti or Indonesia. I say let's bring them in, help them find housing, help them find funding for their new businesses. What does the city have to lose? People who want to leave are going to leave anyway in pursuit of a different life. Look at "Little Italy" in New York. How many "Italians" actually live there? How many businesses have the new Asian immigrants created? Plenty. Let's grow up, Philly! Immigrants are what have brought vitality to our cities for the last 300 years. We are a nation of boat people. Thanks to people such as Councilmen Nutter and Kenney, these ideas have some support in local government. Hopefully I will be in Philadelphia in three years to vote for one of them. Now I am having too good a time eating at Korean barbecues, trading aquarium fish from a Chinese pet-shop owner and buying Panettone from Brazilian-Italians here in Washington, D.C. But the great city of my birth is calling me, and I hope to return and have my Korean barbecue and Jamaican jerk in the city of my birth.

Thank you, City Paper, for the obvious support you show my city's -- our city's -- immigrants. It is such support that gives me hope that I will someday come back to a place that was as good or better (read: with more jobs) than when I had to leave it.

George Stallings
Arlington, Va.

-- Respond to this article in our Forums -- click to jump there